Datasheet

Each PDF version provides support for additional features. It’s not as important to know all the features

enabled by one version as it is to know which PDF version you need to use. For example, to optimize a PDF

file for printing, you may need to use PDF version 1.3 (Acrobat 4–compatible). Or, if you want to embed

movie files in a PDF, then you need to use an Acrobat 6–compatible file (PDF version 1.5). Or, you may

want to add password security to a PDF that requires a newer Acrobat viewer to open a file using a pass-

word.

Rather than try to remember a long list of compatible features, you are generally informed when one PDF

version is needed over another as you work through editing PDFs in Acrobat. In addition, when you know

your user audience and the version of Adobe Reader or Acrobat that users have installed on computers,

you’ll know which Acrobat-compatible version of a PDF to create.

Understanding PDF Standards

PDF has been adopted as a standard file format in many industries, including engineering, legal, manufac-

turing, and prepress and printing. Even the United States Federal Government, has embraced PDF as a

standard file format.

So what are standards? Without regulation and approved standards, the computer industry would be

chaotic. Fortunately, an international committee known as the International Organization for

Standardization (ISO) develops and approves standards for the technical industry. This international com-

mittee, an entity apart from Adobe Systems, has approved and developed substandards of the PDF format.

The PDF standards available now include the following:

PDF/X. This standard is a subset of the PDF format used in the printing industry. PDFs meeting

PDF/X compliance are typically reliable and, theoretically, can be accurately printed on almost any

kind of PostScript device.

PDF/E. This standard is a subset of the PDF format designed for engineers to insure that indus-

trial designs and drawings comply with a PDF standard.

PDF/A. This standard is a subset of the PDF format used for archiving documents. The standards

committee wants to insure that the files you create today and save as PDF can be viewed by com-

puters many years in the future. To do so, the PDFs you create for archival purposes can be saved

as PDF/A documents.

PDF/UA. Although, as of this writing, this subset of the PDF format is in an early draft stage, you

may be hearing more about it in the near future — about one to two years from this writing. The

goal of this proposed new standard is to provide universal access (UA) to all users including those

persons working with assistive devices (see Chapter 25 for more on PDFs and assistive devices).

The proposed new format is in the hands of the AIIMS Standards Board Committee that also pro-

posed the PDF/X and PDF/A standards and submitted them to the ISO. People interested in par-

ticipating on the committee can find more information at

www. aiim.org/standards

.asp?ID=27861

Looking at the New User Interface

If you’re an Acrobat user, the first thing you’ll notice when you launch Adobe Acrobat 8 or Adobe Reader 8

is a new appearance for the user interface (UI). Many changes have been made to the Acrobat window, some

Getting to Know Adobe Acrobat

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